Cast	Dec. 04/07/09	Dec. 05/08
Lohengrin	Stefan Vinke	Mario Zhang
Elsa	Petra Maria Schnitzer	Wang Wei
Telramund	Egil Silins	Anton Keremidtchiev
Heinrich	Steven Humes	Guan Zhijing
Ortrud	Eva Johansson	Yang Guang
Der Heerrufer des Konigs	Wieland Satter	Liu Songhu

 

Giancarlo del Monaco Director Giancarlo del Monaco, the son of the famous tenor Mario del Monaco.He made his debut as a stage director in 1964 in Siracusa (Italy) with Samson et Dalila (starring Mario del Monaco).

He started his career in Germany as assistant to Wieland Wagner, Günther Rennert and Walter Felsenstein before assuming the post of principal stage director in Ulm from 1970 to 1973 where he staged some 15 productions.He was General Manager of the Macerata Festival (Italy) from 1986 to 1988 and the General Manager of the Opera der Bundesstadt Bonn from 1992 to 1995. From 1997 to 2001, Giancarlo del Monaco was the General Director of the Opera House of Nice (France).

Contemporaneous with his career as General director, Giancarlo del Monaco becomes one of the most important and sought after stage directors of his generation.He has staged productions in renowned theatres in major cities around the world and collaborated with the most important conductors and stage designers of the operatic world. Fluently speaking five languages, his operatic repertoire contains more than 100 operas, staged in their original language.

In 1991, he was invited to stage La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera. This was followed by Stiffelio, Madama Butterfly, Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino (for which he was honored by the American Institute of Verdi Studies). All of these Met productions were filmed and internationally broadcast.Giancarlo del Monaco has been the recipient of numerous honors. From 2009, he is the artistic director of the Tenerife Opera Festival.

 

William Orlandi Set Designer After studying at the Academy of Belle Arti of Brera in Milan, William Orlandi designed sets and costumes for Il Trovatore directed by Alberto Fassini at the Theater San Carlo in Naples, Don Carlos, Don Giovanni directed by Lorenzo Mariani in Parma and numerous other operettas. He worked with Alberto Fassini in various operas, such as Romeo et Juliette in Palermo, Il Trovatore and Werther at the New National Theater in Tokyo and Norma at the Regal Theater in Turin.

Since 1987 he has worked regularly with Gilbert Deflo, Liebermann's La Foret at the Grand Theater Geneva is the beginning of this collaboration, followed by Aida, The Coronation of Poppea, Carmen etc. And in the 2005-2006 season a new version of L'amour des trois oranges for the Opera Bastille in Paris.

His design also can be seen in Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni, Massenet's Therese, Rigoletto by Verdi and La Gioconda by Ponchielli in 2002 and 2003 seasons at Hopernhaus Zurich and Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci for Arena of Verona in 2006 season.

 

Jesus Ruiz Costume & Make-up Designer Born in Cordoba, Spain, Jesus Ruiz got a degree in Art History, Design and Music Composition at the Complutense and Politecnica universities in Madrid and at the Real Consevatorio Superior de Musica.

Awarded with the First National Contest 'Ciudad de Oviedo' for stage design, he began his career working with Emilio Sagi as a stage and costume designer in Mozart's Magic Flute which was put on at the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

He has cultivated all the theatrical genres: drama, ballet, flamenco, opera, musical comedy and films, with a special devotion to opera of which he has debuted in over fifty productions.

He has worked for some of the main theaters and festivals: Teatro Real (Madrid), Grand Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), Theatre Chatelet (Paris), Maggio Musicale (Florence), Euskalduna (Bilbao), Saddlers Wells (London), Palau de les Arts (Valencia), opera houses in Nize, Laussane, Achem, Perm...

His upcoming projects include I due Figaro by Mercadante for the Salzburg Festival and Teatro Real, conducted by Riccardo Muti, and Samson and Delilah by Massenet for the Massada Festival with maestro Del Monaco. 

 

Sergio Metalli Projection Designer Sergio Metalli was the projection designer for NCPA's production Der Fliegende Hollander and un ballo in maschera in 2012. Born in Rimini in 1956, he is dedicated to his passion for electronics that bring him to choose studies along those lines.  

His versatility led him to perform collaborations in all areas at the highest levels like the State television, to have daily collaborations with artists like Ezio Frigerio, Hugo de Ana, Josep Maria Flotats, Raffaele Curi, Tito Egurza, Nicolas Joel, Lindsay Kemp, William Orlandi, Pier'Alli, Lluis Pasqual, Margherita Palli, José Carlos Plaza, Gianni Quaranta, Luca Ronconi, Peter Stein, Vladimir Vasiliev and with the Italian Dario Fo, Tonino Guerra, Mietta Corli and many others passing from international conferences until the Theatre which he has a very special feeling.  

In over a decade of successful career he has made over 360 productions and he has worked with major theatres around the world.  

The International Festival of Performing Arts in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum has been for Sergio Metalli an opportunity to discuss, during a seminar on 'virtual reality', its important experience. A special event dedicated to the contemporary scene which saw the participation of the greatest set designers, directors, architects, authors of Cinema and Theatre from all the world. 

Every year also in Italy, at the prestigious 'Accademia della Scala di Milano', his intervention is required periodically to give some lessons targeted to students in a virtual reality. 

 

Vinicio Cheli Lighting Designer Vinicio Cheli was the lighting designer for NCPA's production Tosca in May 2011 and Der Fliegende Hollander in April 2012 and un Ballo in Maschera in May. From 1974 to 1979, Vinicio Cheli works at the 'Maggio Musicale Fiorentino' involved in all productions. Since 1979 he joined the 'Piccolo Teatro' of Milan and became the light collaborator of Giorgio Strehler , he making the entire production of Piccolo until 1989. Since 1987, for four years, he worked with the 'Rossini Opera Festival' to produce shows with several directors.

At the same time since 1989 he worked at the Salzburg Festival, Theatre Champs-Elysees, Chalet Theatre in Paris with the set design by Pier Luigi Pizzi, then respondeed to the La Scala in Milan. Recollaborated some years with the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. 

The 90s of the last century saw himwork in the Opera Bastille, National Theatre of Prague,Festival of Aix en Provance, Ravenna Festival, the Opera of Monte Carlo, Opera of Geneva, Maggio Musical Fiorentino, Baroque Festival of Versailles, Opera Garnier in Paris, Easter Festival in Salzburg , Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, Atticus Theater in Athens, Ginza Saison Theater in Tokyo, Theatre of the axes of Brussels, Amsterdam Opera, Teatro Comunale of Bologna, Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, Opera of Toulouse, National Theatre of Catalunya in Barcelona,Teatro Real Madrid, Metropolitain in New York, and collaborated with P.L.Pizzi,Ezio, Frigerio, Hugo de Ana, KM Gruber, Henning Brockaus, Claudio Abbado, RICCARDO Muti, to name just a few. 

In the new miennium, Vinicio Cheli continued to expand his collaboration with Ezio Frigerio, Hugo de Ana, F. Zeffirelli, V. Gergiev, Claudio Abbado, Nicola Joel, Quirino Conti, Mario Gas, in productions covering a vast realm of the opera repertoire.  

In 2010, he set up La donna del lago of Rossini direqued by Luis Pasqual with scenes by Ezio Frigerio and costumes by Franca Squarciapino; Boris Godunojv directed by Andrei Konchalovsky.

In the beginning of 2011, he worked in Senso a new opera directed scenes and costumes by Hugo De Ana. July 2011 Medea directed by Theodorakis in Syros Festival of the Aegean. In November of 2011, he worked in The Sleeping Beauty, first ballet of reopening of Bolshoi Theater. Vinicio Cheli also taught theatrical lighting at the New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and at the Professional School of La Scala.  

 

Marco Medved Vocal Coach Marco Medved was born in Milan. After his classical lyceum studies he took his first class of piano degree in 1997 at the Bologna State Conservatory. Then he specialized in accompanying singers studying with Professor G. Pisani of the Teatro alla Scala. After a two years course he took the relevant degree at the Accademia Internazionale della musica of Milan and was winner of a two years scholarship of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala.

In 2002 and 2003 he worked at the Festival dei due Mondi of Spoleto as coach and as assistant of the orchestra conductors during the preparation and performances of The Telephone and The Medium of G. Menotti, who actively cooperated and directed both of them, and of the Lohengrin, also directed by G. Menotti.

Since autumn 2008 he is the musical assistant of Gustav Kuhn and choir conductor of the Chorakademie der Tiroler Festspiele, who is the choir of the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl (Austria) and of the Orchestra Haydn in Bolzano (Italy).

Called by G. Del Monaco, he worked as coach in the Festival di Tenerife in Spain for the preparation of Schauspieldirektor, La Canterina and Pagliacci. In 2012 he prepared the Chorakademie for the Tiroler Festspiele.Dduring the Tyrolean Festival 2012 his work include Lohengrin, Tannhauser, Parsifal, Tristan und Isolde, Tosca, Nabucco, Le nozze di Figaro, Carmina Burana, Beethoven]s Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis, Rossini]s Petite Messe Solennelle.

 

Stefan Vinke as Lohengrin Tenor After completing high school, German tenor Stefan Vinke earned his master's degree in singing, vocal pedagogy, and sacred music (including organ) at the Music Academy of Cologne and was immediately engaged by the Staatstheater Karlsruhe/Germany. In 1996, the young tenor received a scholarship from the Stipendiat der Richard-Wagner-Stipendienstiftung Bayreuth. 

From 1999 to 2005, Stefan Vinke was engaged to sing the young heroic tenor-roles at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, including Tristan, Parsifal, Lohengrin, Siegmund, Erik, in addition to other leading tenor roles: Idomeneo, Don José, Hoffmann, Florestan - all with great success. 

After singing Tristan in Cologne and Lohengrin in both Stuttgart and Leipzig, in 2010 Stefan Vinke undertook Siegfried in the entire Ring Cycle in Cologne and Berlin, and also in G？tterd？mmerung at the Salzburg Osterfestspiele, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.  With the role debut of Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Oper Leipzig, Mr. Vinke completed his Wagner repertoire. In December 2010 he made his debut at the Opera Bastille in Paris as Bacchus. This year has seen him among other projects again in Intolleranza in Venice and in the title role of Tristan in Hong Kong. 

In summer 2011 he performed Stolzing in Meistersinger and Tristan in Tristan und Isolde at the Bayreuth Festival. 

Stefan Vinke has worked with famous conductors, including Jeffrey Tate, Sir Simon Rattle, Lothar Zagrosek, Donald Runnicles, Ulf Schirmer, Jun Markel, Leopold Hager, Michael Gielen, Adam Fischer, Markus Stenz, Dennis Russel Davies and Philippe Jordan.  

Aside from his strong presence on the operatic stage, Stefan Vinke is in demand as a concert singer, whose wide-ranging repertoire is at home in all styles and venues. 

His concert engagements lead him all over Europe, as well as to North-, Central- and South America, to Asia and Israel. 

 

Mario Zhang as Lohengrin Tenor After his spectacular debut at the Semperoper Dresden as Calaf in January/February 2008, Mario Zhang was also very successful in this role at the Vienna Popular Opera (Volksoper). Before, he had already celebrated great triumphs as Calaf at the Zurich Opera House and the Slovak National Theater Bratislava. As Manrico he recently made his debut in a new production of Il Trovatore on the occasion of the opening of the new opera house in Bratislava. Moreover, both the press and the audience were charmed by his Don Carlo at the International Chiemgau Music Festival. 

In such operas as Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida, La Boheme, Tosca, Carmen, Les Contes d'Hoffman and many others he could already be seen at the Welsh National Opera, the Wexford Opera, the Royal Opera Copenhagen, the National Opera Prague, the Polish National Opera, the Cologne Opera, in Dublin, Hanover, Kiel, at the Festival in Schwerin, at the Cleveland Opera, the Sacramento Opera, the Sarasota Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, the Pacific Opera Victoria and the Vancouver Opera.  

The Canadian citizen performed as concert soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Welsh National Radio Orchestra. 

Mario Zhang graduated at the London Royal College of Music. After that, he won the First Prize at the National Clonter Opera Competition in London. He was a finalist at the Placido Domingo International Opera Competition and the Metropolitan Opera Competition. Televised performances of the artist include o.a. a production of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and a opera gala concert with the Welsh National Radio Orchestra. 

One of the Canadian tenor's most sung roles is Radames, which he performed among others in a huge Aida production in Paris, Marseille, Brussels, Lisbon, Budapest, Stuttgart, Dortmund, in the open-air-production of the Eutin Festival, at the Munster City Theatre, at the Bratislava National Opera and the Prague State Opera. 

 

Petra Maria Schnitzer as Elsa Soprano Petra Maria Schnitzer was born in Vienna. She studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg and at the Vienna Music Academy and was a member of the Vienna State Opera's opera studio. 

In 1993 she won a prize in the Vinas competition in Barcelona. In the same year she made her debut as Agathe (Der Freischutz) at the Vienna State Opera followed by parts like Comtessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Ilia (Idomeneo), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Micaela (Carmen), Freia (Das Rheingold) and Gutrune (Gotterdammerung). 

Further performances took her to the Salzburg Festival, the Bavarian State Opera (Die Verkaufte Braut, Der Freischutz), the Aalto Theatre (Arabella) and the Wiener Festwochen where she sang Fiordiligi (Cosi Fan Tutte) under the baton of Riccardo Muti. At the Dresden Music Festival she was seen as Irene (Rienzi).  

Her successes include Elsa (Lohengrin) at the Bayreuth Festival in 2002, 2003 and 2005, Leonore (Fidelio) in Antwerp, Meistersinger (Eva) in Zurich and London. In 2004 she sang Elisabeth (Tannhauser) at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Agathe (Der Freischutz) in Venice and Elisabeth (Tannhauser) in Los Angeles and at the Metropolitan Opera New York. In 2005 she made her debut as Sieglinde in Walkure at the Chatelet in Paris. In the season 2005/2006: concert tour in Switzerland and performances of Verkaufte Braut and Meistersinger at the Munich State Opera. Also she sang Freischutz at the Berlin State Opera and Tiefland in Zurich. 

Her engagements in 2009/2010 include, among others: Tannhauser in Berlin and Munich, Eugene Onegin and Freischutz in Zurich. Engagements in 2010/2011 include, among others: Tannhauser und Tristan in Berlin, Freischutz in Barcelona. 

Beside her opera performances Petra Maria Schnitzer also attends to concert and liedgesang and she is guest in all the big European music centres. A CD featuring lieder and duets by Robert and Clara Schumann has been published. 

 

Wang Wei as Elsa Soprano Wang Wei is the leading soprano of the China National Opera House, is also the national Class A artist. She studied with Mr. Tan Dun and is the guest professor and Ph. D. candidate at Northeast Normal University.

Wang Wei became a student at the Central Conservatory of Music in 1991, when was awarded the Shen Xingong Music Scholarship and Fu Chengxian Music Scholarship. In 1995, she was a finalist in the International Music Competition Selection hosted by the Ministry of Culture. In June 1996, she made her debut as Fiordiligit in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and in the same year, she graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music. In August 1996, she performed her first recital in Beijing and became the first prize winner in the Sino-France International Music Competition in October. In September 1997, she was awarded second place in the 6^th International Opera Competition in Marseille, France (first place was not awarded that year). In May 1998, she was second award winner in the International New Voice Music Competition held in Germany.

Up to now, Wang Wei has sung as leading roles in many operas successfully and was high acclaimed. In 1996, she sung in Puccini's Turandot and Verdi's La Traviata. In the same year, she collaborated with China's National Symphony Orchestra and served as the lead soprano in the oratorio Handel's Messiah. In September 1999, she took part in the Verdi's Aida and in Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Macau International Music Festival.

In April 2008, Wang Wei acted as Margared in édouard Lalo's Le roi d'Ys. Three years later, after her outstanding performance in Mr. Tan Dun's opera Tea as Princess Lan in the Naitonal Center for Performing Arts, Tan Dun commented her as 'the most promising soprano in China'. She sung Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni in the end of 2008 and Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro in 2010 in the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. It was followed by a tour in Minnesota, Los Angeles and San Francisco. She sung in Beethoven's the Ninth Symphony and Verdi's Requiem with Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hebei Symphony Orchestra.

Wang Wei is a versatile soprano and has performed numerous classical Lieder. She has established herself in Chinese operas, such as the famous composer Wang Shiguang's opera Marco Polo in the China National Opera House in July and in the opera Sister Jiang in the Tianjin Opera House in the August, 2000.

 

Egil Silins as Telramund Bass-baritone The bass-baritone Egils Silins was born in Latvia and graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music. He made his debut at the Latvian National Opera, performing in 'Mephistopheles''(Boito). He has won ten international competitions and received the Latvian Annual Music Award in 1996 and 2003. After engagements at the Frankfurt opera and Basel opera, he became soloist at the Wiener Volksoper with an acclaimed debut as Mephisto in Gounod's 'Faust', followed by the leading role 'Boris Gudonov' directed by Harry Kupfer. He made his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper in 'I Puritani'. Other roles at the Wiener Staatsoper included the title role in 'Mephistopheles' (Boito), Silva in 'Ernani', Raimondo in 'Lucia di Lammermor', Rodolfo in 'La Sonnambula', Escamillo in 'Carmen' and Procida in 'Sicilian Vespers'. He gained huge international acclaim singing the title role in 'Le Demon' (Rubinstein) at the 1997 Bregenzer Festspiele. He has also performed at prestigious music festivals including The Tanglewood Music Festival, Savonlinna Opera Festival and Glyndebourne Festival. Egils Silins has performed at many of the world′s leading opera houses, including Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Semperoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro del Liceu, Mariinsky Theatre, Opernhaus Zürich, Chicago Opera, Staatstheater Munchen, among others. His repertoire (more than 70 roles), include: Hollander/Fliegender Hollander, Wotan/Rheingold/Walküre, Wanderer/Siegfried, Amfortas-Klingsor/Parsifal, Telramund/Lohengrin, Jochanaan/Salome, Barak/Woman without Shadows, Orest/Elektra, Demon/Demon, Rangoni/Boris Godunov, Gd. Prêtre/Samson et Dalila, Mephisto/Faust and Damnation de Faust, Sebastiano/Tiefland, Scarpia/Tosca and Germont/Traviata. 

His most recently engagements include among others the Ring Cycle and Salome at the Opernhaus Zürich, Rheingold and Walküre at Opera de Paris, Fliegende Hollander at Teatro Real, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper and Royal Opera House, Siegfried and Tiefland at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Parsifal/Amfortas Teatro del Liceo Barcelona and Opernhaus Zürich. Next projects include among others Prinz Igor and Parsifal/AmfortasKlingsor at Opernhaus Zürich, Ring Cycle/Wotan-Wanderer at Opera de Paris, Salome/Jochanaan at London Royal Opera House, Telramund at Oper Koln, Fliegende Hollander/Hollander at Festival de Orange, Rheingold/Wotan at Opera de Monte-Carlo, Ring/Wotan-Wandere at Tokio Nomori Opera, etc. 

He works with world's renowned conductors as Andrew Davis, Colin Davis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marcello Viotti, Christian Thielemann, Philippe Jordan, Christoph von Dohnányi, Zubin Mehta, Ricardo Mutti, Fabio Luisi, Seiji Ozawa, Vladimir Fedosseyev, Neeme Jarvi, Mariss Jansons, Andris Nelsons, Sebastian Weigle, Kazushi Ono, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Mstislav Rostropovich.

 

Anton Keremidtchiev as Telramund Baritone Anton Keremidtchiev was born in Bulgaria but has the Italian citizenship. He studied singing at the Conservatory in Sofia and also with Boris Christoff, he was twice finalist of the Competition 'Toti dal Monte' in Treviso. 

He started his career as a bass in Sofia and in Leipzig, and was singing as a guest also at Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Teatro Massimo Palermo, at Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, in Treviso, Paris, Valencia, Oviedo und Mocow. 

In 2010 he sung Escamillo in Helsinki, Amonasro in Kiel and Münster, Germont and Pizarro in Berlin, Telramund in Dortmund, Kurwenal in Leipzig and made his successful debut as Rigoletto at the Festival in Herrenchiemsee. 

In 2011 he has contracts at  Komische Oper Berlin as Pizarro, in Hong Kong as Kurwenal, in Budapest as Amfortas, in Leipzig as Kurwenal, at Deutsche Oper Berlin as Macbeth and again at the Festival in Herrenchiemsee as Ford. 

 In 2011/12 he is singing Escamillo in Helsinki, Telramund in Toulon, Klingsor in Wels and Zagreb and Macbeth at Deutschen Oper Berlin, for the season 2012/13 he is contracted for the title role in 'Guillaume Tell' in Kaiserslautern, as Telramund in Graz, as Rigoletto in Wien, for Verdi Requiem in Essen and for Matthaus Passion in Berlin.

 

Steven Humes as Heinrich Bass Steven Humes premieres with Mahagonny as Alaska-Wolf Joe with Madrid's Teatro Real, simultaneously broadcast in over 200 theaters and on September 30, 2010. DVD recording to follow.   

Steven joins the Salzburg Festival this upcoming July with Christ of Loy's Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Christian Thieleman. Other highlights this season include two premieres in Munich as Capellio in I capuleti e i Montecchi and as Don Fernando in Fidelio, a role debut as Oroveso in Norma, Parsifal in Théatre des Champs-élysées and a debut with the Hamburg State Theater. LA Opera's DVD recording of Kurt Weill's Mahagonny won two classical Grammys at the 51st Grammy Awards: Best classical album and best opera recording! Appearing regularly on the international stage since 2003, American bass Steven Humes has performed numerous roles including Sarastro, Fasolt, Ramfis, Oroveso, Wurm, Gremin, Commendatore, Publio, Biterolf, Lodovico, Pistola, Alaska-Wolf Joe, Truffaldin, Wagner, Eremit, Titurel and Timur among many others. 

He has appeared with many of the world's most important theaters including The Bayerische Staatsoper Teatro，Real in Madrid, Théatre des Champs Elysées, Hamburg Staatsoper, Festspiel haus Baden-Baden, The Bolshoi the Salzburg Festival, Luxembourg's Les Théatres de la Ville, Reiti Festival in Rome, Tokyo's Bunka Kaikan and NHK theaters.   

Mr. Humes has also been heard throughout the United States in theaters including Los Angeles Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and Chicago's Ravinia Festival. 

Among his future engagements are Fafner in both Rheingold and Siegfried in Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Grande Theatre de Geneve, Mahagonny at the Bolshoi, Rocco in Fidelio with the Teatro Regio di Torino, Commendatore in Don Giovanni with the Theatre des Champs Elysees, Frau Ohne Schatten conducted by Christian Theilemann at the Salzburg Festival, Ariadne auf Naxos also under Christian Theilemann in Baden-Baden and Semele with Rinaldo Alessandrini conducting at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. 

 

Guan Zhijing as Heinrich Bass As a bass, Guan Zhijing is active son both domestic and overseas opera stages with complete singing skills, proper vocal flexibility and complex performance features. He is the winner of Wenhua Award in the 8th National Vocal Music Competition, the Award of Merit in the first 'Voice from the Golden Shore' New Singers & Songs Competition and the Crystal Award in the 3rd CCTV Foreign Song Competition for Chinese Singers. He was recruited in 2005 to the international master class organized by reputable Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi.

Eva Johansson as Ortrud Soprano Born in Copenhagen, Eva Johanssonstudied there at the Royal Opera School as well as at the Royal Conservatory, had her debut also in the capital town of Denmark at the Royal Opera House in 1982 as Contessa in Figaro and had a residence contract there for some six years.

Eva Johansson is a frequent guest at Opera companies such as the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Staatstheater Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, at the Royal Opera of Covent Garden in London, the Opera Bastille and Opera Garnier in Paris, the opera houses of Nice, Genf, Sevilla, Madrid, Stockholm, Oslo, Tel Aviv, the Liceo in Barcelona and also at the Metropolitan Opera of New York or Japan. She has sung under the baton of conductors like C. Abbado, W. Sawallisch, B. Haitink, J. Levine, D. Barenboim, M. Janowski, C. Thielemann and P. Schneider.

At the Bayreuth Festival Eva Johansson sang Elsa in Lohengrin and Freia in Das Rheingold from 1988 - 1993. With her highly praised debut of Senta in Der Fliegende Hollander in a new production in Frankfurt in October 1999, Eva Johansson added another role of the dramatic Fach.

In autumn 2000 she opened the season of Los Angeles Music Centre together with Placido Domingo in Die Walkure and Sieglinde with Valerie Gjergjiev conducting. In autumn 2001 she gave her sensational debut as Salome. In spring 2002 she was debuting Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio in a new production at the Berlin Deutsche Oper followed by taking the main part in Ariadne, in summer 2002 Isolde in Tristan und Isolde in Venice, Fidelio in San Diego in 2003 and Kaiserin in Frau Ohne Schatten in Madrid.

Her debut at the Zurich opera house in December 2003 with the title role of Elektra, directed by Kuseji and under the baton of Mo. von Dohnanyi was such a great success that Zurich decided for a revival in the following year.

 

Yang Guang as Ortrud Mezzo-Soprano Mezzo-Soprano Yang Guang was the 1997 winner of the prestigious BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff. Miss. Yang also won the first prize in Plácido Domingo's 2001 OPERALIA Competition. After she completed a three-year stay at the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Center for American Artists, she performed both in concert hall and opera stage around the world wild.  

Miss Yang has sung her Amneris in Aida with the Florida Grand Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, Opera Omaha, the San Francisco Opera, and the same role for her returning to the Deutsche Oper, Berlin where the mezzo has sang her first Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. Miss Yang sang the title-role Carmen in student performances and as Santuzza in Lyric Opera of Chicago's Cavalleria Rusticana. Miss Yang has sang her first Eboli in Don Carlos (in the original French 5-act version) with Welsh National Opera, a role she reprised for the Canadian Opera Company in 2007/2008 after making her debut with this company as the Second Norn and Waltraute in Gotterdammerung. Miss Yang has working with the Metropolitan Opera for the their 2011 Japan tour. 

In concert, Miss Yang appears with the Milwaukee Symphony as the Mezzo-Soprano soloist in a program based on Shakespeare, conducted by Nicholas McGegan. She also made her Chicago Symphony debut as the Alto Solo in Tippett's A Child of Our Time under Sir Andrew Davis and performed in recital at the Chicago Cultural Center, the mezzo soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera under Mo. Carlo Rizzi. The same part she has also done it with the Orchestre de Paris, under Mo. Christopher. Eisenbach. Miss Yang has also sung the solo part in the Beethoven's Symphony No.9 in Cleveland and a recital in HongKong Art Festival. Miss Yang has also performed in 1998 & 2008 concerts in New York City for the Marilyn Horne Foundation's Gala concert. 

 

Wieland Satter as Der Heerrufer des Konigs Bass-Baritone Wieland Satter studied Music Education at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt am Main, majoring in Flute and Choral Direction. After his graduation with the Teaching Certificate he started vocal studies at the Hochschule für Musik 'Franz Liszt' in Weimar. He graduated with Artist's Diploma, specializing in Voice.  

He finished his studies with Karl-Heinz Jarius, Sebastian Vittucci and Gregory Lamar and visited Masterclasses with Hans Hotter, Walter Berry, Kurt Moll, Cornelius Read.  

He has performed in the following Opera Houses: Passau, Hof, Kaiserslautern, Linz, Augsburg, Kassel, Opera de Lyon and from 2005-2008 at the soloist ensemble at Staatstheater Nürnberg. His repertoire includes dramatic baritone roles like Phillip II, Zaccharias, Escamillo, Kaspar, Mephisto, Pizarro,and also Character roles as Leporello, Figaro, Dulcamara, Bartolo.  

Next season, he will sing Orest (Elektra), in Italy (Bolzano, Modena, Piacenza, Ferrara), Pizzaro (Fidelio) in Austria, Klingsor (Parsifal) in Münster and the title-role in Russlan and Ludmilla.  

Mr. Satter has a wide repertoire as a concert singer in German song-cycles such as Winterreise, Schwanengesang and Dichterliebe, and in oratorios such as Mozart Requiem, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony, Mendelsohn's Elias and Paulus, Bach's St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion and Christmas oratorio as well as early baroque and renaissance music with specialized ensembles.  

He has received a scholarship from the Franz-Schubert-Institutes in Baden near Wien, and was Prize winner in the 'International Gottlob-Frick Competition' and Finalist in the '2nd International Hilde Zadek Competition'. 

 

Liu Songhu as Der Heerrufer des Konigs Baritone Liu Songhu was Ping in NCPA's productions of Turandot, Cristiano in Un Ballo in Maschera, Falke in Die Fledermaus, Schaunard in La Boheme. Liu Songhu, a baritone and an associate professor of the Academy of Opera, Peking University, had been the resident soloist of Nurnberg State Opera and visiting lecturer of Nurnberg Academy of Music. So far, he has starred in over 500 performances of operas, with The Fall of The House of Usher being elected as the annual 'Best Opera' by the German Ministry of Culture. In addition, he won a series of awards at German 'New Voice' International Voice Competition, Toulouse International Voice Competition and other competitions. In 2007, he, as the first Chinese singer, won the top award at the Germany 'La Voce' International Artistic Songs Competition.